Interplay of Levitated Particles, Lasers and Magnetic Fields: From Dust in Plasmas to Dusty Plasmas at the Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL)

Authors

• Chakraborty Thakur, Auburn University
• E. Thomas, Mississippi State University
• E. Price, Auburn University
• C. Royer, Auburn University
• P. Ekanayaka, Mississippi State University
• C. Wang, Mississippi State University
• R. Kumar, Herff College of Engineering
• D. Jose, Herff College of Engineering
• R. Gopalakrishnan, Herff College of Engineering
• J. Williams, Wittenberg University

Abstract

The Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL) at Auburn University works as an open access, multi-user collaborative research facility to investigate the fundamental physics of low density, low temperature plasmas and complex/dusty plasma phenomena from unmagnetized plasmas to strongly magnetized plasmas. The centerpiece of the laboratory is the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment (MDPX), a highly flexible, capacitively coupled plasma device with a split configuration, large bore (0.5 m diameter) superconducting scale magnet (up to 4 T) with excellent axial and radial diagnostic access. The MDPX is uniquely designed to allow for different plasma chambers to be interchanged within the high field magnet, and the whole device can be rotated from vertical to horizontal configuration, in steps of 22.5°. In addition, MPRL also participates in external collaborative projects that have led to the development of independent dusty plasma research programs. This presentation will give a broad overview of some of the current research themes in MPRL, and summarize results from some of the more recent collaborative projects such as using dust as a diagnostic tool to measure electric fields in an unmagnetized plasma sheath via optical trapping [1], studying the dynamics of strongly coupled, two dimensional dust clusters with a controlled number of dust particles [2], investigating dust acoustic waves when the magnetic field direction does not align with gravity [3] and finally using dust as a diagnostic to investigate the electrostatic nature of magnetic field-aligned filamentary structures [4] in capacitively coupled plasmas at very high magnetic fields.

Publication Title

IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science

Recommended Citation

Thakur, C., Thomas, E., Price, E., Royer, C., Ekanayaka, P., Wang, C., Kumar, R., Jose, D., Gopalakrishnan, R., & Williams, J. (2026). Interplay of Levitated Particles, Lasers and Magnetic Fields: From Dust in Plasmas to Dusty Plasmas at the Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL). IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, 203. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICOPS53334.2026.11660120